This week I had the opportunity to observe my first parentteacher interview. Mrs.

Shaw allowed me to sit with her as parents

came to discuss their child. There were many things that Mrs. Shaw did
that I would like to incorporate into my own teaching. One of them was
having students prepare portfolios to present to the parents. Mrs. Shaw
didnt enhance or change the portfolios in any way, but left them just
as the students had made them. This way the parents were able to
see an accurate reflection of their students performance in class.
Another thing that I really liked was the introduction of the new
grading scale. This grading scale grades students not by percentage or
letter grade but by a scale that compares them objective-by-objective
to the program of studies. Whether they are beginning, developing,
achieving, or extending. She introduced it by showing each parent the
scale and asking if they had any questions. They had been made aware
of this grading scale before but many were still unfamiliar.
Some students in Mrs. Shaws class had been graded as still
developing. To Mrs. Shaw and other teachers this meant that these
students needed additional support. Some of the parents saw the D
and basically freaked out. One or two parents in particular became
very emotionally charged, and began insulting Mrs. Shaw and advising
her about her inability to teach telling her the way she had chosen to
teach was ineffective and a waste of time. I liked the way Mrs.
Shaw handled these parents. She re-explained the grading scale and
referred specifically to the students work to explain why they received
the grade that they did.
When one parent in particular continued to argue she remained
calm and polite but didnt back down, explaining again how the child
received the mark they did and what she will do to help the child in the
future. I like the way that she handled this parent in particular. We
talked to another teacher who had been similarly treated by this
parent, and his response was just tell her what she wants to hear. I
like that Mrs. Shaw stood by her assessment and her teaching
methods. She was willing to make adjustments for the good of the
student, but she also stood by her principles and practices she has in
her classroom.

This past week I have been realizing the value of time! I felt that I knew
45minutes was short but now I really feel that I am starting to get it.
Time is one of the greatest resources that we have as teachers and it is
also one of the easiest resources to let slip through our hands. Taking
tome to call back attention, write a sentence, put paper in a binder or
get books are all little, big time eaters in elementary school! I have
been getting advise from Mrs. Shaw and other teachers about how to
effectively manage time, and how to save time on the little things like
passing out materials, but overall I have found that the greatest time
saving technique that I have is effective lesson planning.
The times that I have not rolled over and activity or discussion in
a lesson form one day to the next are few and far between if even
existent at all. I find myself wanting do to much stuff in too little time.
Like pinning the gas when sliding on ice often more is less and I just
find myself spinning my tires but getting nowhere fast. This was
particularly true of my math lessons recently. Each lesson was well
though out and related to the objective but I would teach a concept
one way then another way then another trying to reach all the students
and ensure that they are able to achieve the objectives. I liked the
way that my teaching was adjusting incrementally to meet students
needs, but I felt that I was spending so much time teaching and reteaching objectives (to ensure I was teaching thoroughly) that I lost
site if the big picture. It really hit me when I looked at my 5 week
schedule and found that the students in my math class where to be
ready to write a unit test in just 2 days. I looked at where we where
and where we would be two days from now if I kept teaching the way I
was, there would have been no way that my students would be ready
for that test.
I have learned that we as teachers under a time crunch teaching
properly take time but teaching in grand ways and teaching properly
dont always mean the same thing. To improve my teaching I need to
ask myself more frequently, what do my students need to know, what
is the most effect way for them to gain that knowledge, how can I
accurately assess it and perhaps more importantly is this activity for
me or the students?

This past week I learned firsthand about the value of informing

students about the way they will be assessed. At the beginning of this
week I handed back a sheet that students had filled out along with a
learning activity. I handed back his worksheet with a simple letter from
their grading scale on it. I intended to use this worksheet as a
formative way to understand if students were grasping the concepts
being taught.
Immediately after handing it back two or three students (which is
almost a quarter of my class), were surprised and in a panic asked me
if it was for marks. I was surprised that they cared. All of the students
had done very well on the assignment and their marks reflected that. If
anything, I thought that they would be happy that it was for marks. I
explained to them that it wasnt for marks, it was just something I was
using to see how well they understood the topic we had discussed. Still
concerned, they questioned me, making sure this wont be on the
report card, right?
From this I learned that it is important to let students know how
they are being assessed and what the assessment is being used for.
The students in this class were only in grade five, but many of them
take pride in their work and strive hard to get good grades. Taking
something for grades that they didnt know was a summative
assessment, would be unfair to the students, and as I found out, could
cause major panic.
I talked to one student in particular, she shared how tests to her
are something that are stressful, and to do her best, she has to take a
lot of time and effort to prepare. To her, the thought of being assessed
without knowing was scary and unfair.
The next assessment I did with this class was formative and for
marks. I wanted to be more prepared for this assessment, so I told
students as we played a review game, what the review game would be
for. We looked at the format of the assessment and talked about how it
was to be completed. We then reviewed using a game that simulated
using the same format that would be used in the test. Once students
were tested, there were no concerns about the assessment being used
for marks. Students were well prepared and didnt have to guess how

their work would be used. I just finished marking this assessment and
overall as a class, the students did very well.
Moving forward as a teacher, I will do my best to inform students
of the way they will be assessed and what the assessment will be used
for before the assessment takes place.
Just as I was discussing with my TA, real life situations, such as
the working world, give clear expectations of the task you are to
perform. Giving a test without first outlining the expectations, is not a
skill that they are likely to use in real life. Rather, setting forward what
is expected, allows the students to prepare properly and demonstrate
their knowledge or skills.

Journal Week 4
My last math lesson did not go as I had planned at all. I was starting
a new unit and Mrs. Shaw had directed me to teach from the Edmonton
Public Schools math lessons. I looked at the way that Edmonton Public
Schools had things laid out in their book, and decided that I would teach
things a little bit differently, but that I would use the same learning
outcomes. I prepared a lesson off of the learning outcomes listed there.
I then formulated a lesson that I thought would greatly engage the
students and give them multiple strategies for two digit mental math
addition. I prepared worksheets, and explanation sheets for each strategy,
and was excited to get going. As a taught, things seemed to be going well.
Students were understanding what was being taught, and I had made my
way through the first of three strategies, primarily through student led
discussion.
I began writing a couple of practice questions on the board and
noticed that the strategy I had mentioned was extremely limited and only
worked for a specific set of double digit addition questions. My first
thought was, no matter, there are two other strategies still to go, and by
the end of these three strategies, students will know how to add any twodigit question using mental math.
I was about to move on from my first strategy of adding from left to
right, when Mrs. Shaw stopped me and asked if she could intervene. She
wrote a question on the board that required students to regroup. She then
asked students to try to solve the question. Doing their best to utilize the
strategy I had just taught them, all but one student came up with an
answer that was over 1000 off what it should have been.
At this moment it hit me; why am I teaching students this strategy?
Is this helping them learn how to do math? Or is it giving them a new
technique that they can only use after identifying a specific set of criteria
that make it useful. The second was true. I looked at my materials I had

prepared. I had done exactly what the book had said. I had prepared to
teach grade 3 students three separate double digit mental math addition
techniques that each had a specific criteria for use. I remember the way I
was taught addition I was taught one technique that worked for all
addition questions. Why had I not done the same favour for my students?
In a brief discussion with Mrs. Shaw, I showed what I had prepared
and asked if she would be willing to teach the rest of the class and let me
observe what I would do differently. I watched as she taught the same
addition strategy that I was taught in school. The students quickly
understood how it was to be used and could apply it to a variety of
different addition questions.
I sheepishly sat down and asked myself why did I teach what I had
taught. I came to the conclusion that the primary reason I had taught
those techniques was simply because the book had said to. I decided to
teach a lesson, and not students. I taught what was listed and not what
would help them the most. From this, I have learned that as a student in
my professional semesters, it is important to keep close communication
with my TA and understand what their expectations are. As a teacher I
learned what it means to use professional judgment in regards to
curriculum. Even though the curriculum is standard, it is my responsibility
to teach my students in a way that will benefit them most, and teaching
for student learning must always come before teaching the lesson.

Monday November 3rd

PSI Reflection
Adam Toth
Today was an observation day I spent the class in Mr Lishmans room
observing his Grade 5-6 Hunters ED Class, Grade Seven Math Class,
and his 7-8 Leadership Class.
Three things I liked:
1. Casual Respect: Mr. Lisheman is vey himself and comfortable with
his students it is evident that he does it without putting on his teacher
voice or giving an heir of hierarchy in his classroom. He is certainly in
charge but takes charge in a more casual way. He does this by joking
around with students, speaking in a casual but professional way and by
making his feedback to students genuine and truly solicited. His casual
relationship with the students has earned him their respect, at one
point his math class was out of their desk to put materials away and he
simple said wile looking at the ground and bouncing a tennis ball, Ok
everyone back in your desks and I will give you the question of the
day. The students ran back to their desk sat down and gave their

attention. I think this was less of a classroom management technique

and more of a sing of the students respect for Mr. Lieshman
2. Skill Testing Question of the Day: Mr. Lishman used the question
of the day to help keep students motivated and engaged. The question
of the day had nothing to do with the topics covered it was just a
random question, random song that you try to guess the title of or
anything. It is very simple but the students are way excited about it.
3. Tell me a Story in Math: After reviewing a concept Mr. Lishman
asked his students to tell him a story about it. For example we talked
about the parts of a fraction and asked students to simply tell a story
about when this would be used in real life. One of the students gave
the example that her father went to a cattle sale and used the
denominator to represent the total number of cattle there and the
numerator was the number of cattle her father bought. This was she
explained the concepts covered in math in an everyday context. I
really liked it.
Three things that I would change
1. Students where referred to as dude repeatedly I prefer to stick to
names
2. Back up plan- the gym for archery did not pan out as planed so we
watched archery videos from youtube. Mr. Lishman himself was not
happy with this but without a backup its what we did
3. students not cued to what we are doing in class